MPD chief offers to go on leave after hostage crisis

Manila's police chief offered to go on leave on Wednesday, two days after the bloody hostage crisis in Manila, where nine people were killed— eight Hong Kong tourists and the Filipino hostage-taker, a dismissed policeman. Radio dzBB's Sam Nielsen reported that Manila Police District (MPD) head Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay said he will face his responsibility over the deadly hostage crisis. Four of his subordinates have already been relieved from their posts. Magtibay "just offered verbally his intention to go (on leave)," said Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. On Monday, in front of the Quirino Grandstand in Manila, former senior inspector Rolando Mendoza hijacked a tourist bus carrying 21 Hong Kong tourists and four Filipinos. After an 11-hour bloody drama, nine people died — Mendoza and eight tourists. The hostage drama turned bloody when the hostage-taker became angry after seeing his brother being arrested on a live television broadcast of the incident. The bus driver escaped and shouted as he ran that everyone on the bus was already dead. It was then that the police launched an assault on the bus. Cruz revealed that Magtibay, being the over-all ground commander in Monday's hostage crisis, was the one who gave assault orders. "The assault order was given after the driver escaped from the bus said and claimed patay na lahat (everyone was dead)," Cruz said. Four SWAT team leaders relieved Magtibay's offer to go on leave came as an "administrative relief" was issued on four team leaders of the MPD's Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team. Magtibay expressed his intention to go on leave before a briefing at the the PNP main conference room in Camp Crame in Quezon City at about 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Cruz said PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa, the PNP Cpmmand Group, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, and his undersecretaries will have to convene and decide on Magtibay's petition to go on leave. Cruz said Magtibay did not give a specific reason for his decision but said it could have been due to "personal reasons." "Undue influence" Cruz said the four SWAT officials were relieved to prevent them from exerting "undue influence" on the body tasked to investigate the incident— the Post Critical Incident Management Committee (PCIMC), composed of the PNP's directorial staff with Verzosa as the head. The committee is composed of members from the PNP directorates for investigation and detective management, intelligence, police community relations, and operations. "On orders of the Chief PNP, the investigation will be conducted 24/7, walang tulugan (there will be no sleeping)," Cruz said. Calls for ouster of top officials There have been calls from the public for the ouster not only of Magtibay but also of Metro Manila police chief Director Leocadio Santiago Jr. and Philippine National Police chief Director General Jesus Verzosa. However, Santiago earlier said he will not resign but will abide by the outcome of an ongoing investigation on the case. Cruz revealed that despite Monday's incident, members of the Manila police who took part in the operations have yet to be "restricted." "They were just advised to remain in the office. There was no physical restriction," he said. He also said the PNP had discussed media relations and ground control but has not come up with a final decision on the matter. "Transparent investigation" Despite the criticisms hurled against them, Cruz assured the PNP will not lose its focus on making its investigation "transparent." "The PNP is taking it in stride. May mga insidente na hindi natin gusto lahat pero ang magagawa natin pag-aaralan na lang natin kung pano ma-improve lahat at maiwasan ito," Cruz said. Cruz also defended ranking security officials who were noticeably not present at the Quirino Grandstand early in the negotiations. The PNP spokesman said being a "veteran investigator," Verzosa decided it would be better to give instructions "from a distance." Cruz said it has been a "policy" for ranking officials to leave it to ground commanders to deal with delicate crime situations. "The presence of a higher official will give undue pressure on the ground commander," the PNP spokesman, assuring however that the PNP chief as well as Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo and Palace officials were all in "constant communication" with the ground forces. No tattooing In the same press conference, Cruz revealed the autopsy results on the nine fatalities, including the hostage-taker. The autopsy showed they all died from gunshot wounds and not from any stab or slash wounds. Most of the gunshots wounds were found on the heads of the victims, he added. Investigators, however, have yet to determine the caliber of the firearm that killed the tourists. "Pero walang indikasyon na nagbaril sa sarili niya [Mendoza] dahil high-powered rifle ang nakabaril sa kanya at dahil walang tatooing," Cruz said. Firing a gun in close range produces a ring of powder burns around the entry wound called tattooing. [But there was no indication that Mendoza killed himself since he died due to a gunshot wound from a high-powered rifle and there was no tattooing.] Cruz also said they could not immediately conclude that the tourists died from close-range shots. "Hindi ma-determine kasi nakadamit kaya walang tatooting na nangyari (We can't tell if they were shot in close range since there was no tattoing)." Investigators recovered from the bus 59 pieces of empty shells of an M16 rifle and live ammunition from a caliber-45 pistol. Cruz also told radio dzBB they have yet to retrieve messages and call entries from Mendoza's cellphone, which he used to communicate with the negotiators. At one point, the hostage-taker was also seen talking over the phone with a still unidentified person about the letter from the Office of the Ombudsman, assuring a reinvestigation of his dismissal. Mendoza, who called the letter "basura [trash]," is believed to have "snapped" or lost his temper soon after, especially when he witnessed his brother being arrested and shoved by police authorities on a television inside the bus. Meanwhile, Cruz said members of the SWAT team who took part in Monday's assault will have to submit the firearms they used for ballistics tests. The autopsy was conducted on all remains except for three of the slain victims, whose family requested for "personal and religious reasons" that the bodies of their loved ones not be pried open. — Mark Merueñas, LBG/RSJ/VVP, GMANews.TV